Horseshoe nail turkey calls

[Creamer]

I'd been seeing a lot of these on the socials and couldn't resist making a few of my own. There are a lot of different styles and shapes, but the common thing is obviously the horseshoe nail which is like a striker against a call surface. The easiest to obtain and best call surface I have found for mine so far has been a small ceramic car coaster. They are just under 3" in diameter.

Scrap osage limb chunks.

Padauk, don't have any oil on this one yet.

Black limba

It's not a super loud call but sounds pretty good. What I really like about it is I feel like it's less movement than running a conventional slate with a long striker. Most of the ones I see online are boxy and hollowed out. I chose to make mine on the lathe, flatten one side on a sander (nail side), and drill out the center a bit instead of hollowing out the entire side. At some point I'll do a sound clip so ya'll can hear them. I really dig it.

 

[mrbighorns]

Those look sweet, can’t wait to hear them. I’m jealous of your woodworking talent, everything always looks awesome!

 

[ThatBuckeyeGuy]

Would you consider selling one ? Just asking and curious. I don't have socials and this is the first time I've seen one. I love turkey hunting even though I haven't had a good spot In a long time. However I love unique calls especially local ones

 

[switchhitter]

Can’t wait to hear it
I have never seen a horse shoe nail call either
What is the material you using the striker on?

 

[5Cent]

Yep, sign me up for one. Unique and hopefully deadly!

 

[JARHEAD]

You may have a little side hustle there @Creamer . Id be interested in a local made unique call also

 

[Creamer]

Thanks for the comments. Right now, I have no plans to sell any. I've barely started making them and generally don't look to sell stuff. If anything changes, I'll keep you all posted.

 

[Creamer]

I had been wanting to try something new to me and finally made it happen. I had a horn that I have been holding onto for a while that was on the small side for most calls I like to make with horn (like howlers). I've never owned or used a turkey tube call, but I thought it might be a fun way to use up the horn. The buffalo horn didn't disappoint. Lots of work to get it to the final product (sanded from 80-400 grit then polishing paste) but it has some really cool colorations and fades from light to dark. The wood receiver end is a small piece of black limba. I'm still learning how to best use it but I think it sounds pretty good. The reed is .004" latex.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'd never heard of such a thing, so I learned something new this morning! Cool stuff, Jeff.

 

[switchhitter]

I had a friend who could gobble on a tube call and was so realistic
Made a fantastic locator call
He could also do a goose in it which worked for locating also
That is a great looking call

 

[Creamer]

I had a leftover chunk of osage from @Jamie that wasn't quite big enough to make a call barrel from, but was a gorgeous piece of osage. I finally found a use for it. I glued a piece of walnut to each side and turned a turkey pot. The surface is blasted aluminum over glass.

 

[Creamer]

I've also got one cooking that is entirely unnecessary and expensive to build. But I felt compelled.

 

[Jamie]

that color scheme looks very familiar to me for some reason...